Chapter 41: Before the Premiere

After leaving China Film Group, Cheng Sheng ignored everything happening in the outside world. Instead, he borrowed a cutting room at the group to integrate the "Qin Wang Po Zhen Yue" (Music of the Qin King Breaking the Array) into the film.

He was busy for two days straight.

Once he finished, he received some good news: a new house had been found, a commercial apartment located near the Central Academy of Drama.

Cheng Sheng went to inspect it. It was a three-bedroom, one-living room, one-kitchen, and two-bathroom unit on the fifth floor with good ventilation.

In 2004, Beijing's housing prices had not yet skyrocketed; the overall average was around 5,000 yuan per square meter. However, because this building was close to the Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Film Academy, the price was slightly higher at about 7,000 yuan per square meter, making the total purchase price just over a million yuan.

Having learned about the future of Beijing's real estate from his other set of memories, Cheng Sheng paid the full amount upfront.

He then asked the agent to keep an eye out for other good properties in Beijing; if the location was right, he would snap them up.

Hoarding property.

That was the plan. Cheng Sheng intended to hoard a batch of houses in Beijing.

He didn't know how to invest, didn't know how to play the stock market, and knew nothing about sports betting.

Aside from film and television, he knew nothing else from his other set of memories.

Therefore, hoarding real estate was the best option. In the future, Beijing's housing prices would increase by dozens of times.

By buying houses now and reselling them decades later, he could achieve direct financial freedom.

The best locations for housing in Beijing included Chaoyang District, Haidian District, Fengtai District, and Fengshui District, among others.

Chaoyang District had a large land area and a wide scope. In recent years, there had been a massive supply of new residential land. Currently, there were nearly 30 new residential developments in Chaoyang.

The product types were also very diverse: flat apartments, villas, townhouses, duplexes, courtyard houses, and detached houses.

The properties Cheng Sheng wanted the agent to watch specifically were in this district.

Especially the Siheyuan (traditional courtyard houses).

In the future, Siheyuan would be extremely sought after; even with money, one might not necessarily be able to buy one. Securing one now would definitely yield massive profits in the future.

After leaving the property search to the agent and leaving him his number, Cheng Sheng hurried to the furniture market.

The house had been bought, and although the title transfer would take time, he needed to furnish the new home.

Beds, cabinets, sofas, tables, chairs, and so on.

If Cheng Sheng were alone, he certainly wouldn't have been able to manage it all, but fortunately, he had his good buddy Qiao Shan.

With Qiao Shan's help, the furniture was quickly purchased. Cheng Sheng set a date for the furniture company to deliver everything to the new house.

Having finished with the new home, Cheng Sheng began writing a new script.

While Cheng Sheng was busy with his new script, the premiere of *The Great Tang Dynasty: Origins* was approaching.

National Day.

Indeed, Master Han had scheduled the film's premiere for National Day.

This was an auspicious date.

Generally, movies released during the National Day holiday, as long as they weren't terrible, could achieve good box office results.

Master Han had clearly put thought into this; after all, securing a slot during this period was difficult for most people.

The day before the premiere.

Cheng Sheng brought along Su Chang, Zheng Guolin, and Fu Dalong, who had rushed to Beijing, as well as Qiao Shan, Bai Baihe, and Zeng Li, to the China Film Group.

In a small conference room.

Since the movie was premiering the next day, Master Han of China Film said he wanted to discuss the arrangements with Cheng Sheng and the others.

Upon meeting, Cheng Sheng exchanged pleasantries with Master Han. Primarily, Master Han showered Cheng Sheng with various praises: how he had brought glory to the country, called him a young hero, mentioned how he had recovered lost national treasures, and expressed a desire for future collaborations.

Cheng Sheng smiled but said nothing.

He understood why Master Han was praising him so much.

The "glory to the country" part was undoubtedly Venice.

As for being a "young hero," Cheng Sheng didn't view himself as some legendary child deity.

As for recovering the lost national treasure...

That referred to him adding the "Qin Wang Po Zhen Yue" to the film.

When Master Han learned that Cheng Sheng had successfully reconstructed the perfect version of the "Qin Wang Po Zhen Yue," he was extremely shocked.

Everyone in the modern era knew that the "Qin Wang Po Zhen Yue" had been lost in the fires of history; even if any records existed, they were in Japan.

In contrast, China had no surviving records of the music, which was a tragedy for the nation.

But now, Cheng Sheng had produced a complete version. Master Han hadn't believed it at first.

However, after Cheng Sheng returned and edited the music into the film, Master Han watched it again and was so excited he nearly fainted.

*Thump, thump, thump!*

Even now, Master Han's mind was filled with those vigorous drumbeats and the image of the young hero, Li Shimin.

Because of this, he had called Cheng Sheng late into the night and learned that the original manuscript of the "Qin Wang Po Zhen Yue" had already been handed over to the National Museum.

As for why the museum hadn't released the news, it was because Cheng Sheng had requested it; he wanted the museum to release the news only after the movie was released.

Hearing this, Master Han valued Cheng Sheng even more.

No one could truly know how much the original manuscript of the "Qin Wang Po Zhen Yue" was worth, for it was undoubtedly a national treasure.

The fact that Cheng Sheng had directly handed it over to the National Museum showed his patriotic spirit.

With such a spirit of selfless dedication, Cheng Sheng's name would certainly be noted by the higher-ups.

In the future, within the entertainment industry, as long as he didn't commit any major errors, no one would dare to target him openly. Even regarding script and film censorship, things would likely be much more relaxed, as the state stood behind him.

To block Cheng Sheng's scripts or films would be to slap the face of the state.

For this reason, Master Han's attitude toward Cheng Sheng was much more respectful.

Master Han's invitation to Cheng Sheng and the film crew was not only to arrange the premiere but also to discuss the subsequent promotional tour.

In truth, China Film had already begun the promotion.

After Cheng Sheng won the Golden Lion in Venice, Master Han had already directed China Film to promote *The Great Tang Dynasty: Origins*.

Many of the positive news reports about the film online had been released by China Film.

What they were discussing now was the film's promotional tour, also known as a roadshow.

The plan was to have the main actors visit several major cities one by one, holding screenings and meet-and-greet events at local cinemas.

The stars would also sign autographs and interact with fans.

*The Great Tang Dynasty: Origins* had a very large cast, with over a hundred actors having lines. This meant that when China Film chose the cities for the roadshow, they had to allocate more locations.

If there were only a few actors, they might have only chosen four or five cities. After all, actors are human; running through four or five major cities consecutively is exhausting, and increasing the workload further could lead to burnout or even death from overwork.

For this roadshow, China Film selected twelve cities, all of which were major cities in China.

Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu... and Rao City, among others.

Except for the last one, the rest were central cities in China.

As for why Rao City was chosen, it was because Master Han had taken Cheng Sheng's hometown into consideration.

Cheng Sheng understood Master Han's thoughtfulness and was very grateful to him.

After all, Rao City was merely an 18th-tier small city; being included in the roadshow showed just how much Master Han valued him.